Race? In Pittsburgh it needs some work. I think we need someone new to step up and introduce some changes. Might be me possibly, I've been running from it.

James Brown

What Goals Should Blacks Aim for in 2014?

“The goal is to treat people better.Treat them like everybody else and be good to people.Black people in general.”

Brendan Williams

What Goals Should Blacks Aim for in 2014?

“Bringing everybody together as one and focusing on their history.Not just Black history month, but history month and celebrating everybody from their past, present and where they are going in the future.”

Lillian Rainey

What Goals Should Blacks Aim for in 2014?

“For people to think about what they are doing to each other.They come to you one way, but they are not really that way.You’re trusting and you go to trusting them and something else happens.”

Renee Williams

Do You Think Race Relations Are Improving or Worsening in Pittsburgh?

“As far as where I work, not improving because where I work at we only have one shift supervisor that’s Black.All the rest of the management is White so, I would say no.”

John Younger

Do You Think Race Relations Are Improving or Worsening in Pittsburgh?

“I think it’s improving.Basically I think everybody should get along.Everybody started out from Adam and Eve so the whole worlds related anyway.”

Taisha Demus

Tonnochi Brown

Do You Think That Blacks Display Any Prejudices against Each Other?

“The problem is prejudice goes universal.We have to try as a people to all get along.We’re all human.We got to get it together.”

Tamika Collins

Do You Think That Blacks Display Any Prejudices against Each Other?

“I’ve been dealing with that all my life.My daughter is dealing with it now.She is 13 and is fair skinned.When I was growing up it was not the cool thing to be dark skinned and nowadays, it seems the light skinned girls are not so popular.”

This edition of “Pittsburghers Speak Up” aims to discover people’s different experiences of and opinions on race. In 2014 in America, where we are meant to feel so racially united, race still serves as a prominent form of separation. It can unify people within their own communities, but it can also easily be used as a tool for segregation, prejudice, and isolation.

It is both disappointing and intriguing that race continues to surface as a subject— as an active topic of dialogue in our homes, communities, and nations. It is disappointing because our interpretation of the word is often shallow. Yet it is intriguing to consider the differences that persist among us despite after so many thousands of years on this planet. Our hair colors and textures are different. So too are our eye colors: brown, hazel, green, and blue. Does that mean that because we are looking through different lenses we are seeing different things? Or are we seeing the same things with different interpretations? By definition, race means a family, a tribe, or a nation belonging to the same stock. Does our membership to that family mean that our life experiences will be the same?

During the course of this project, it has been fascinating to see the differences—and surprising similarities—between the answers to questions on race posed in the 1950s and 1960s, and those asked (identically) in the new millennium. We are humbled and honored to have served as curators and interpreters for such an enthralling and still-sensitive subject.